In the second match of their Maxol-sponsored Australian tour, the Irish Universities swept to an emphatic victory over Cairns & District at Cairns on Saturday. This was a first success for the Irish, who had lost by a point to Northern Territory in the opening game at Darwin earlier in the week.

Left wing Daragh McElligott opened the scoring after 11 minutes with the Universities' first try. The Cairns' side held out for the next 20 minutes, before Barry Hall increased the lead with the only penalty goal of the match 10 minutes before the break.

The Universities' out-half Rory Wallace scored an unconverted try five minutes into the second half. And 10 minutes later, Hall converted a try by Aleric Turtle to stretch the gap further.

With some 20 minutes left, number eight Denis Finn was the next to score, crossing for another unconverted try. Just afterwards, replacement full-back Robin Morrow got over, followed by lock Mick O'Driscoll.

Just before the final whistle, Wallace grabbed a second try, for Hall to add the points.

IRISH UNIVERSITIES: C Kilroy (UCG), J Kelly (UCC), A Turtle (DU), A Clarke (QUB), D McElligott (DU); R Wallace (DU), P Stringer (UCC); B Hall (QUB), H O'Neill (UCC), R Laffan (UCC), M O'Driscoll (UCC), J Ryan (UCD), F Twomey (UCC) capt., R Dunlop (QUB), D Finn (UCD). Replacements: R Weir (QUB) for O'Neill, P Spence (QUB) for Stringer, R Morrow (QUB) for McElligott, W Robb (DU) for Ryan, J McKee (DU) for Laffan, A O'Shea (UCC) for Morrow.